Imran convenes party’s core committee as Shehbaz Sharif nominates himself

Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Imran Khan will preside over a meeting of his party’s core committee on Sunday to announce the next move after his unceremonious removal from office. 

Khan, 69, was removed from office through a no-confidence vote held early Sunday morning, becoming the first premier in the country’s history to be sent home after losing the trust of the lower house of parliament. 

Taking to Twitter, Senator Faisal Javed Khan said: “Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan will chair the core committee meeting of the party today inshaAllah.” 

“Imran Khan will announce the future course of action.” 

Pakistan’s joint opposition – a rainbow of socialist, liberal and radically religious parties – secured the support of 174 members in the 342-member National Assembly, more than the needed strength of 172 to oust the prime minister on a day full of drama and multiple adjournments of the House. Khan is the first Pakistani PM whose fate was decided through a trust vote. Earlier, two separate no-trust motions failed respectively against former premiers Benazir Bhutto in 1989 and Shaukat Aziz in 2006. 

Shehbaz Sharif nominates himself

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday nominated himself for the post of prime minister after Khan’s ouster. In accordance with the deadline of the submission stipulated by the National Assembly, 70-year-old Shehbaz submitted nomination papers for the new leader of the house, the Express Tribune newspaper reported. “Special thanks to media, civil society, lawyers, my Quaid Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Bilawal Bhutto, Khalid Maqbool, Khalid Magsi, Mosin Dawar, Ali Wazir, Amir Haider Hoti & leaders & workers of all political parties for standing up for the Constitution!” he tweeted. 

Former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chair Asif Ali Zaradri had proposed Shehbaz’s name in a joint oppositions meeting last month. PML-N senior leaders Khawaja Asif and Rana Tanveer will act as endorsers for Shehbaz.

Imran tried to sack army chief

Details of the gruelling and murky political activities have emerged, showing the country may have averted a damning showdown between Khan and the powerful army. According to various media reports, Khan made a botched attempt to replace army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in order to bring someone more pliant and sympathetic to his idea of foreign conspiracy and cling on to power. BBC Urdu reported that a helicopter carrying two uninvited guests landed in the Prime Minister’s House in the night and were escorted by army soldiers to the interior of the palatial building. The two met alone for 45 minutes with Khan. No details were officially provided about the meeting but it was not held in a cordial atmosphere, the report said. 

“The prime minister had issued orders an hour ago to remove one of the high officials who came to meet him. So the uninvited arrival of these guests was unexpected for the prime minister. Imran Khan was waiting for a helicopter but those arriving on the helicopter were against his estimate and expectations,” according to the report. 

It further said that Khan was expecting that the helicopter would bring his newly appointed official whose arrival would put down all political disturbance. It also reported that the attempted effort for a change failed as the defence ministry did not issue the necessary notification for the new appointment. 

The BBC did not identify the uninvited guest but the choice of words, tenor and tone of the report unmistakably show that they could be the Gen Bajwa and ISI chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum. 

The army’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations on Sunday rejected the BBC Urdu article and termed it a “typical propaganda” story. It said in a statement that the article is “totally baseless and a pack of lies”.

Close aide’s home raided

Meanwhile, authorities in Lahore have raided the house of a close aide of Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf has alleged. Dr Arsalan Khalid had worked as the focal person for Khan on the digital media team since 2019. 

“Ex focal person on PM Imran Khan on digital, Dr Arsalan Khalid’s home has been raided and they have taken all phones from his family,” the party said on Twitter. “He has never abused anyone on social media & never attacked any institutions,” another tweet said.